8 Ulysses Aldrovandi

could anyone be led to believe. We, however, to speak the truth, do not acknowledge the existence of the "Astomi" (the mouthless), but only those with a very small oral opening. For observers and explorers of those regions, considering the tiny mouths of the inhabitants, perhaps wrote as if there were no opening at all.

Furthermore, at the foot of the high mountains of Scythia, certain people are said to live who are not only naturally bald but are also endowed with huge chins and noses so flat that they seem to lack them entirely. Lycosthenes perhaps spoke of these when he mentioned a race with small holes in place of a nose.

Regarding lips, Pliny is the authority for the claim that the innermost part of the East is inhabited by people deprived of an upper lip. However, Lycosthenes, in his *Chronicles*, describes the Nigritae as being of tall stature, with a lower lip hanging down as far as the chest—beyond the measure of an ell—the inner part of which would easily rot due to the heat of the climate if they did not treat it with salt. Cadamosto later, and Isidore, agree with others in testifying to this. The Nigritae are thus described:

These people are very black and of tall stature, having a lower lip projecting down to the chest, the inner part of which is so filled with a saturated redness that it appears to be troubled by some ulceration. Because of this, all their teeth appear larger than ours; indeed, they have two that are more prominent than the rest. All of this is shown in the following icon.

If the conversation turns to ears, the distinguished anatomist Vesalius relates that, in his own time, he observed two men in Padua whose ears were immobile. Yet no small wonder enters our mind regarding the Fanesii or Satmoli, as Pomponius Mela and Strabo recount, whose ears grow so large that they serve them like clothing when walking and like a mattress when lying down.

For this reason, Pigafetta recorded that the inhabitants of the island of Gilon, located near the Moluccas, are gifted by nature with ears hanging down to their shoulders; indeed, he mentions a neighboring island whose inhabitants are protected by ears so large that, when lying down, they cover their whole body with one ear and use the other as a blanket. Therefore, according to the Jesuit Eusebius, the voyages of the Dutch and English confirm that men are found called Turanuchos (this name means "ear," just as in the ancient world they called similar wonders "Enotocoitos" because of their astounding ears) who have ears so long that they hang down to the ground, and who live toward California, as can be seen in the following figure.

What remains to be examined concerning the eyes? Gellius first left a written record that there are both men and women whose eyes have a double pupil, who, when seized by a great fit of rage, kill those they look upon. Pliny also states that these people dwell in the Illyrian and Scythian regions. But a greater wonder invades our mind when we contemplate men lacking a neck and having a chest decorated with eyes, whom Pliny and Solinus mentioned. These wander through the forests of Asia, their private parts covered by a veil and wearing a very broad hat on their shoulders to ward off the sun's heat while they collect a significant quantity of pepper, which they sell to foreign merchants. These people are called Blemmyes.

In this matter, one may easily believe Saint Augustine, an author of the highest credit, who writes: *I was already the Bishop of Hippo when, with certain servants of Christ, I traveled to Ethiopia to preach the Gospel of Christ to them; and we saw there many men and women without heads, but with eyes fixed in their chests, the rest of their limbs being equal to ours.* Fulgosius cited this same passage from Saint Augustine on the subject. Therefore, holding such authority in high regard at present, we can only assert that this race of men lacks a neck; hence, with the head attached to the thorax, their eyes seem to those looking on to be fixed in the chest.

Lycosthenes, who wrote many vain things, mentions certain people living in parts of Arabia distinguished by three eyes, with breasts so large and swollen that they can only be moved with great difficulty. We also remember reading that in western Ethiopia there live men deformed by four eyes, as seen in the following figure; but so that our discourse never shrinks from the truth, we believe that not actual eyes, but rather likenesses of eyes, were imprinted by nature near the temples at the beginning of their generation.

In the island of Taprobana, according to Lycosthenes, there live certain men with a slender neck, a very large head, a single eye in the forehead, and short, thick legs. Indeed, in the opinion of some, such men of an evil nature live in Scythia toward the north, and